400 students in Archer do battle in chess

Archer students played against volunteers from the association and the Gainesville Chess Club, mostly other local elementary and middle school students.

By Shayna PossesCorrespondent

Timothy Maxwell was left with nothing but a handful of pawns and a bishop to defend his king. His eyes swept across the barren chessboard, desperate for a way out.

Grabbing one of his white pawns, the 11-year-old Archer Elementary School student dropped it with relief in the last row of the board, earning back his queen. He bounced in his seat, snapping his fingers happily.

“I’m (fixing) to get him in checkmate!” he said.

Timothy was one of the 400 students who competed at Archer Elementary Friday in the Alachua County Scholastic Chess Association’s 13th annual “Chess Challenge.” The Archer students played against volunteers from the association and the Gainesville Chess Club, mostly other local elementary and middle school students.

Robert Kaplan-Stein, president of the Gainesville Chess Club, and George Pyne, a local chess coach, started the challenge to share the love of the game they developed growing up. However, Kaplan-Stein wasn’t on board right away.

“George came to me with the idea, and I said to him, ‘Are you nuts?’ ” Kaplan-Stein recalled. “But everyone in the Gainesville chess community knows we are just pawns in George’s chess game.”

Every year since, the association has worked with the school district to choose an elementary school for the challenge, Kaplan-Stein said. Pyne and volunteers then come in one day a week to teach students how to play the game.

Meanwhile, Kaplan-Stein seeks out sponsors to raise the $6,000 necessary for the nonprofit to send each child home with a T-shirt, tournament-style chessboard and tote bag.

“And then they go home and beat their parents. Even if they only play when the power goes out and they can’t do this …” Kaplan-Stein said, miming using a video game controller, “they’re learning logic and reasoning and other things they don’t realize they’re getting.”

Billy Weed, 10, raised his rook and smashed it down onto his opponent’s doomed pawn, complete with comic-book sound effects. He said his favorite part of the game is how it lets him be creative and develop strategies.

Being able to engage local children in an educational activity is why Kelley Kostamo, partnership specialist for Alachua County Public Schools, has been involved in coordinating the program since the beginning.

“The kids are just so happy,” she said. “And chess helps to teach them a lot of valuable lessons, like taking turns and manners, along with math and logic skills.”

Nine-year-old Archer student Nolan Fisher sat patiently, her stoic face betraying nothing to her 7-year-old opponent, Spencer Oyen. Spencer took his time considering every option. Deliberately, he knocked over his king in surrender.